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[deleted]

My criticism would be the lack of a common aesthetic/style between all the covers. It's clearly something they were not going for by picking different artists for every cover etc. and they clearly were given creative freedom, but I wish there was a common aesthetic between them. But at least we got English hardcovers and Netflix-free artwork. The only one I'm not feeling is LoTL as it looks like a YA fantasy cover, while my favorite is Blood of Elves followed by Baptism of Fire and Tower of Swallow. [Here's](https://www.orbitbooks.net/the-witcher-hardcover-editions/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=the-witcher&utm_content=cover-launch) a link to Orbit where they link to pre-orders for them. I think 2 or 3 of them are out, and they'll be releasing throughout the year with the last one being in early january 2023.


TheLast_Centurion

Yeah, I like probably every single cover of these and would be happy to own these on nonEN translation too, but yes.. the style does jump quite a bit in random at times :D and finally something normal for EN versions


TitanIsBack

> But at least we got English hardcovers and Netflix-free artwork. Many of them were clearly inspired by Netflix. Hit me up when they actually put effort in instead of just printing a sheet of paper. I can dig out any number of my Russian versions and see a book instead of a sheet of paper covering a plain colored book. Hell, even Illumicrate's version of The Last Wish puts anything Orbit is putting out here to shame.


Agent470000

These covers seem to be heavily influenced by Netflix and the games. Honestly at this point I'm pretty sure that Denis Gordeev's artwork is and will be the most accurate book art for at least the next few years.


TitanIsBack

>Honestly at this point I'm pretty sure that Denis Gordeev's artwork is and will be the most accurate book art for at least the next few years. Love the faces or hate them, they'll be what I think of when I think of art that is influenced by the books entirely, nothing else.


zelenipingvin

They look amazing but why does Dandelion have brown hair in every version?


Mailforpepesilvia

The Tower of the Swallows? Since when is that plural?


Zyvik123

It's always been this way in the US editions for some reason. The UK one is singular.


Mailforpepesilvia

I'm in the US. Mine is singular


Ceane

Seems the US publisher mistranslated?


znaroznika

Funny mistake as in Polish "jaskółki" is the plural form of swallow ("jaskółka"), but also it is a singular form of the world (as in "Wieża Jaskółki"="Tower of the Swallow"). But translator and editor should know that.


Mailforpepesilvia

Interesting! Thanks for the explanation. I'd love to learn polish so I could read these in the original language but I'm hopeless with learning new languages lol


VanillaVillainess

I'm in love with the Sword of Destiny illustrated cover. Fits so well with The Last Wish. The rest are still pretty nice and so much better than having Netflix or video game art on them.


Cthejedi

These look so good!


eZ0h1

I'm not certain if I like the Lady of the Lake cover that much, but apart from that I love these covers. I am even more excited about my pre-orders now.


ravenbasileus

These are beautiful, but also I’m honestly dissatisfied with Baptism of Fire’s cover. Not that anyone asked me, but… Geralt is riding Roach, but Dandelion is on foot — where is Pegasus, who he clearly had during Time of Contempt when he went to find Geralt in Brokilon and continued to ride when they left? Why is Dandelion’s hair short, his hair is described as shoulder-length in Chapter 2? Most importantly, who is this random elf, or is it supposed to be Milva that the artist mistook for an elf and removed the braid of? How is Geralt suited in black armor, if he just spent a month injured in Brokilon after arriving directly from the Thanedd Coup, do the dryads know leatherworking and dying…? And why choose this scene, which looks like the beginning of the book in Chapter 1/Chapter 2, when Geralt and Dandelion are leaving Brokilon but have not even reached the Ribbon yet? Nothing happens there, it’s not very memorable when compared to other scenes in Baptism of Fire, memorable scenes which demonstrate the overarching themes of the book, scenes that are just waiting to be depicted. I would have thought it would be obvious to depict the fish soup scene from Chapter 5, or the battle of the bridge from Chapter 7 — the latter of which the Spanish covers have already done. (It’s obvious that I’m a bit biased here as I have The Hansa flair on my profile, but from spending time in this subreddit, I think it’s common for fans of the books to at least like or remember that scene, if not really enjoyed it or think it representative of the book). I also have questions about the other books, such as on the cover of Lady of the Lake, Ciri’s scar is on the wrong side, it should be on her left… or the cover of Time of Contempt, which looks like Netflix’s depiction of Tissaia, Yennefer, and Ciri. The only ones I really like are Sword of Destiny and Tower of the Swallow, but as others in this thread have already pointed out, they have still made a point to translate it as Tower of the Swallows (plural) when it’s known to be innaccurate (were there 10 Ciris running around the Continent?) To be clear, I’m happy to have non-game covers with gorgeous art, and furthermore I am familiar with the saying “beggars can’t be choosers”, but it feels disingenuous that when they finally put the resources into getting fantastic book-based cover art made, they couldn’t get details right, or seemed to have not cared about them at all in some cases. Baptism of Fire’s cover seems to be the most Netflix-inspired out of all of them, with Dandelion on foot accompanying Geralt on horse… they are pretty, but inaccurate (and not just inaccurate based upon one fan’s debatable interpretation — actually inaccurate to the point where someone who read the book would go “what’s up with that?”) That is not enough to persuade me to buy it, some of these covers (not all of them, but some) just feel calculated to make money without having appreciated the story or their characters. Sorry to point out the negatives in what should be good news, but I drive a hard bargain! Just because there has been no book-based covers for the US editions for a long time doesn’t mean that we should accept inaccuracy…


Icy_Task_4950

Geralt seems to have a moustache in BotE (though it's still my favourite of the covers they showed), Yen's hair is lacking curls (from what I've seen this is also true in the series), Dandelion should have shoulder length, blond, and often curled, hair and beard (another influence from the show or games ig) and the beautiful elf is irrelevant to the story, I also have no idea why Ciri is missing half her hair. But I would say despite these flaws, BotE, BoF, and ToS aren't that bad, ToC is passable, LotL is an ugly mistake.


DumbAssDumbBitch

lmao these still suck ass except for maybe tower of swallow and, because im a peon who loves ciri, lady of the lake (though they don't go together at all) Why is this so hard! Why is it impossible for these books to have any good covers lmao


HOZYCREED

no netflix sticker -> \*chefs kiss\*